Friday, August 16, 2002

There have been political upheavals in Uttar Pradesh in the past. However what happened yesterday was unprecedented and is unlikely to be repeated anywhere. Here is a an excerpt from the "Lucknow Times"-

Independence Day brought a nasty surprise for Vikas, the Hostel Represemtative (HR) of Hostel 11 of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. In a battle of politics, he was waylaid in a number game. Hostel 11 is one of the newest hostels of IIM Lucknow and it houses 90 students.

Some inhabitants of the hostel called for a special No-confidence motion and Vikas lost. The margin of his defeat was a thumping 34,561 votes against and 89 votes for. Vikas himself abstained from voting.

The winner and the new HR, Keetaknath Chavre, expressed delight at his victory and said "This again reaffirms our belief in the principles of democracy." Keetaknath Chavre is a brown tick who lives under the stairs of the right wing of the second floor. He and some other insects have been rallying for weeks against the one-sided approach by which HR's are chosen in IIM, a method obviously full of flaws. Only humans are informed of the elections and insects are kept out of the decision-making loop. Vikas was elected through this faulty method in July. Today finally, all insects residing in Hostel 11 got together with the humans and called for a special General Body Meeting. The voting was done by secret ballot and Chavre came out on top.

Speaking to the media in a Press Conference later, Chavre talked about his policy "We believe in co-existence of both humans and insects. My first step will be to remove the "insect killer" tubelight setup on each floor, and issue a blanket ban on all insect repellants. I also issue a blanket ban on blankets, which some humans use to cover their bodies, and make it difficult for us to drink their blood." The leeches, bedbugs and the ticks hailed this announcement.

The humans in the hostel looked in a despondent mood and were appearing willing to accept the situation. Vikas, however seems determined to fight his removal, "I will go to the Parliament if I have to, but I will get this wrong decision revoked."